This invention relates to plasma display devices and, more particularly, to flat-panel plasma display devices made in solid-state form and designed for full-color applications.
A variety of color plasma display devices are known in the art. In one such device, an X-Y array of electrodes formed on a substrate is utilized to ionize selected pixel regions of a gas contained between the substrate and a mating faceplate. In turn, the ionized regions cause respectively associated luminescent areas on the faceplate to be excited to emit light of a particular color.
As the size and resolution of plasma display devices have increased, several deficiencies in their basic design as heretofore proposed have become apparent. For example, the thick-film screening techniques typically utilized to make such devices have been found to be not capable of achieving very dense arrays of high-resolution pixels. Moreover, as the design of these high-resolution devices has required their electrodes to be located closer and closer together, typically separated by only extremely thin layers of high-dielectric-constant glass, it has become evident that the relatively high inter-electrode capacitances of such a design constitute a major deterrent to the realization of large-area displays. This is so because these capacitances impose high current demands on associated electrical circuitry employed to drive the display. As display sizes increase, so too does the amount of required drive power, calling for ever more complex and expensive driver designs, to the point where the display may be no longer technically and/or economically feasible.
Accordingly, efforts have been directed by workers skilled in the art aimed at trying to improve the design of plasma display devices. In particular, these efforts have been directed at trying to achieve practicable designs for high-resolution large-area color display devices characterized by relatively low inter-electrode capacitances. It was recognized that these efforts, if successful, could contribute significantly to lowering the cost and improving the performance of such devices.